Power
by EclipsedofSoul
Summary: “It’s not the power of the curse, it’s the power you give the curse,” I whispered into his ear, my lips brushing his skin. “Don’t let it overpower... this.”


Power

Summary: "It's not the power of the curse, it's the power you give the curse," I whispered into his ear, my lips brushing his skin. "Don't let it overpower... this."

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related, I am merely borrowing the characters that belong to JK Rowling.

AN: Just a little idea that hit me when I was watching 'Penelope' and had to write. There's a line used here from the film so due respect to its writer.

--

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, noticing how he hunched his shoulders slightly whenever he was uncomfortable. He was polite and never shied away from anyone although I'm sure he actually wanted to. He was avoiding me though and that was annoying; annoying and frustrating and depressing and every other horrible-nervous feeling out there.

He was doing it deliberately as well, doing subtle little eye-flicks to scope the perimeter of the room around him. He was good, there was no denying that, but I was an Auror, an Auror who was pissed at him and wanted answers. So in short, I was not letting him out of my sight and if it was at all possible I would be getting him closer in my sight.

"You know, I've never seen him do this before." A slightly slurred, slightly hoarse voice said from behind me and I rolled my eyes at its owner as I continued pretending to be listening to Moody.

"I'm serious." He continued coming to stand beside me and poke me in the side.

"I know you are; it is your name." I retorted, not caring how lame that sounded but just knowing that in his state, it would take Sirius several moments to work that one out. Which would give me several more moments of peace; peace that I desperately needed to figure out how to avoid the upcoming conversation.

"Hey... wait a minute..." Sirius mumbled, looking at me glaze-eyed. "That's not what I meant!"

"And what, exactly, did you mean dear cousin?" I replied, turning to face him properly.

"He's never given a girl the cold shoulder before." Sirius whispered, and for once he was actually whispering. I guess all his drinking was giving him a higher tolerance and he was just play up acting drunk. He was certainly looking at me seriously enough now.

"That doesn't really help me does it?" I said softly, trying very hard not to let the despair enter my voice.

"He's my best mate," Sirius continued obliviously. "And I've never seen him so bothered by a girl before. Now granted I've been away but I knew Remus when he was carefree and open-"

"Carefree?" I interrupted, my voice tinged with disbelief.

"Alright," Sirius snapped. "Never carefree. But he was passionate and not as weary of the world. He truly lived when he was at Hogwarts, as we all did, and even allowed himself some of the pleasures the rest of us did. But never then did a girl get to him so much that he'd try so hard to stay away from them but find he couldn't."

I frowned at that. "What do you mean? He's doing a pretty good job of ignoring me."

"But he's here."

"He has to be here. It's an order meeting."

Sirius shook his head adamantly. "It was an order meeting. Now it's not and he's still here, still watching you."

"So I don't get to close."

Sirius shook his head again but this time sadly. "So he can see you," He said softly. "You've gotten to him Tonks, and as much as he thinks he's doing the right thing by pushing you away, he really just wants you close. The two can't be achieved together so he's compromised; to stay away from you in all physical aspects that he can control but to watch you every time he can."

"I don't understand." I whispered. "If he... if he _cares _that much... then-"

"Why does he stay away?" Sirius finished smiling sadly at me. "Because he thinks he's protecting you. Because he's afraid that he'll hurt you, that his lycanthropy will hurt you. And he couldn't stand that. As cliché as it is, he's going for the old 'as long as she's happy I'll be happy' thing."

"He thinks I'm happy?!"

"He thinks you will be."

"And how could he possible think that? After everything we've been through, everything we've-"

"I don't want the details thank you." Sirius said curtly. "I'm just telling you things the way I see them. And hoping this was a good enough pep talk for you to do something about them."

"This was a pep talk?" I snorted.

"Yes," Sirius eyes started to light up and he staggered back away from me, raising his tankard high and shouting "The best you'll ever have!"

I laughed at his antics, knowing now that he was putting on a show and watched as Dung threw his arm around his fellow drunk order member. Molly frowned and pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing and I promised myself I'd have a chat with her about Sirius; as kind and warm as Molly was sometimes she was just a little too quick to judge.

Sweeping my eyes to the side I saw Remus smiling openly at his friend, his face relaxed and his eyes twinkling slightly. Grinning I knew his entire attention was on Sirius so decided to make my move. Skipping, and unfortunately stumbling but only a little, over to his side he didn't even notice until I was right next to him. And he couldn't escape.

"Hey Remus," I said making sure to make my voice extra cheerful. "Would you mind coming with me for a sec? We need to talk about something."

And before he could react or politely decline I grabbed his arm and hauled him from the room. We were on the second flight of stairs before he came to his senses.

"Tonks! What are you doing?"

"Tut-tut Remus, that took you almost two minutes to respond. What would Mad Eye say? Not a very good use of constant vigilance now, was it?"

"You dragged me from the kitchen to test my constant vigilance?"

"No I dragged you from the kitchen so we could talk. I'm just saying that in the process of doing that I found your constant vigilance must have been non-existent to allow me to do so."

"Tonks I-"

"Here we are!" I announced happily and then pushed him unceremoniously into my room before following him and magically sealing the door in my own special way; he wasn't leaving until I was satisfied.

"What is this about?" He asked breathlessly, facing me straight on which caused me to stumble over my thoughts internally; he hadn't looked at me properly in over a week.

"This is about you ignoring me."

"I haven't been-"

"Don't you _dare_ lie to me!" I hissed my hands curling into fists and sparks shooting from my wand.

"It's for the best." Remus answered simply, his shoulders deflating slightly.

"For who?"

"For you Tonks, you just don't understand – I'm a werewolf!"

"I'm pretty sure I understand the workings of who you are Remus." I replied coolly although inside I was boiling.

"What I am." He snapped.

"No, _who_. And don't you dare try to fight me on that as well." I shouted, stepping right up into his face. "I've told you before I don't care."

"And I've told you that you don't know what you're saying." He replied stiffly, his entire body tense as he stared me down. "I'm cursed Tonks, cursed!"

I caved at that, my temper and my body needing some sort of release from all the emotions he was causing inside of me, and I leaned right up into him not missing his flinch or the way he'd suddenly stopped breathing.

"It's not the power of the curse, it's the power you give the curse," I whispered into his ear, my lips brushing his skin. "Don't let it overpower... this."

And I kissed him, with everything I had inside of me I kissed him; all the anger at his stupid reasons, the pain of his distance, the desire he awoke in me, the fear of losing him, everything. My hands wrapped in his hair and my body moulded to his, every possible inch of ours touching.

I broke off and stumbled backwards, heaving heavily as I fought for air. Remus just stood there, looking completely shocked and not moving. Realising I could have just made a real screw-up of things I hung my head and mumbled that he could leave. The next thing I knew, I was against my bedroom door, his body pressed against mine.

"Dammit Tonks!" He whispered furiously before crushing his lips to mine. My hands immediately shot up into his hair and my mouth opened eagerly to his kiss, our tongues caressing as I pulled him closer. I moaned deep in my throat as I gave in to Remus' dominance letting him control the kiss and received a moan from him in return.

Gasping for breath we parted and stared into each others eyes as our bodies calmed down. I knew the curse of his lycanthropy held a great power over him but tonight, tonight I would hold a greater one.

And that gave me hope for the future.

--

My beta wondered if there was an M version of this and I told her I'd work on one just for her but if anyone else out there might like to read it too I'd definitely consider posting it.

Any reviews would be fantastic, as I love getting feedback but really I just hope you enjoyed this!


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